We already rounded up the position players. Now, here are the pitchers that have recently taken to the open market, along with their now-former teams (via the International League and PCL transactions pages):
Here are the position players that have recently taken to the open market, along with their now-former teams (via the International League and PCL transactions pages):
Lieppman, 70, has become something of a legend within the Athletics organization, which he has served for nearly five decades dating to the early 1970s when the team drafted him in the second round. Between his years as a player, minor league manager, and executive, Lieppman has had his hand in decades of great Athletics baseball. He requested to step away from his position in order to spend more time with his family, recommending Sprague to replace him.
Sprague has served in the player development department for the last four seasons, first as an instruction coordinator before earning the title of assistant director for the 2019 season. He has also worked as the organization’s coordinator of on-field analytics, integrating the team’s analytic systems into the player development process. A former Major League All-Star, Sprague also served as the head coach for the University of Pacific prior to joining the Athletics.
Organizational figures like Sprague and Lieppman, who operate largely behind the scenes, often go unnoticed and under-appreciated since it’s awfully hard to quantify their contributions. Still, it seems that the Athletics’ player development department has enjoyed quite a bit of success with Lieppman at the helm. The current roster boasts a wealth of homegrown talent, including stars Matt Olson and Matt Chapman, with A.J. Puk and others on the way. Sean Manaea and Jesus Luzardo, though they were drafted by other clubs, have spent the majority of their careers with Oakland. Of course, that’s only recently: the organization has also drafted and developed stars like Barry Zito, Eric Chavez, Nick Swisher, and more.
]]>Interestingly, though, the plot thickened from there: as Ravani characterizes it, that “snub” prompted Alameda officials to pivot to the Athletics, to whom they offered to sell their debt for $85MM. This time, however, the county would allow the A’s seven years to pay off the sum–with the very important caveat that the A’s would have to remain in Oakland. “The A’s were able to spread their terms out … whereas the county wanted us to pay it all up front,” Oakland Councilman Loren Taylor says in Ravani’s article, “From my perspective, we still need to have a conversation about the same terms that the A’s were given.”
The city and county are currently embroiled in a lawsuit intended to block the county from selling its stadium stake to the A’s, which has put something in a wrench in the team’s plans to develop a new stadium project. This state of affairs caused commissioner Rob Manfred to comment that he was “very concerned” at the litigation and the overall lack of “concrete progress” toward a new playing site for Oakland. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff later indicated to KTVU that Manfred has proposed the possibility of relocation to Las Vegas, with the Chronicle also relaying a similar suggestion on the part of Manfred.
]]>Williams is said to have struck a three-year deal to head to Korea. The long-time big-league slugger had served as the Athletics’ third base coach for the past three campaigns.
Of course, the most notable aspect of Williams’s post-playing days came with the Nationals. He became the D.C. skipper in advance of the 2014 after a coaching stint with the Diamondbacks.
Things went well in 2014, with Williams helping to guide the Nats to a division title. While the club was bounced in the divisional series, he earned manager of the year honors. But the club endured a highly disappointing 2015 campaign and fired Williams at season’s end.
]]>Christenson, 45, saw action in six MLB campaigns after being drafted and developed by the A’s. He never gained much traction as a player in the majors, but he’s looking to do so on the coaching/managerial front after steadily re-ascending the Oakland farm system as a skipper.
For the past two years, Christenson has served as bench coach to veteran Athletics manager Bob Melvin. Christenson could be seen as a possible eventual successor to Melvin, but the long-time helmsman remains under contract tin his role through 2021.
There are, of course, other names connected with the Bucs’ opening. But it’s not clear which, if any, have scheduled formal discussions with the Pittsburgh brass.
]]>Knee surgery isn’t exactly the best way to celebrate a birthday, as Murphy turns 25 years old today. But, given how the youngster performed in his first taste of MLB action even while not at 100 percent, a clean bill of health makes Murphy seem like an even more intriguing prospect going forward, and a strong candidate to assume the everyday catching duties for the Athletics for next season.
Murphy hit .245/.333/.566 with four home runs over his first 60 Major League plate appearances, all but one of which took place in September. With the A’s battling for a wild card berth, Murphy’s performance earned him an increasingly larger share of the playing time alongside veteran catcher Josh Phegley, and Murphy ended up getting the start in Oakland’s wild card game loss to the Rays.
After three impressive years at Wright State, Murphy was a third-round pick for the A’s in the 2016 draft and continued to impress as he worked his way up the minor league ladder. Murphy hit .267/.341/.456 over 966 career PA in the minors, showing up strong offensive potential to go along with his highly-touted defensive skills. Fangraphs ranks Murphy as the 29th-best prospect in baseball, with MLB.com (43rd) and Baseball America (52nd) also issuing strong placements on their top-100 prospects lists.
]]>The newly combative stance from MLB’s top official arose after the city of Oakland filed a surprise suit to block a major portion of the A’s stadium plans. Manfred’s already reported comments conveyed a thinly veiled warning that the team and league could consider alternatives. But it was not known that he had specifically floated Las Vegas as a realistic possibility.
Vegas holds particular allure for Major League Baseball and special meaning to Oakland-area fans. After all, Sin City just lured away the Raiders with a massively subsidized new stadium. Whether or not there’s further appetite in Nevada for taxpayer-funded facilities isn’t really clear, but it is at least a facially plausible threat for the commissioner to make. Notably, though, local officials said they were unaware of any actual discussions to this point, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Several other cities have been mentioned at times as potential relocation spots, but it’s not clear which if any would be serious possibilities with the Rays already flirting with Montreal.
Manfred has made clear plenty of times in the past that his strong preference is for the Athletics to remain in Oakland. And the A’s have worked hard to come up with a workable plan built around private financing (which isn’t to say that significant public support wouldn’t be involved). There are surely still plenty of pathways for that result, though it’s also certain that team and league have little appetite for too many more campaigns in the Coliseum.
]]>Formerly a member of the Giants, Nationals and Angels, Petit joined the A’s for a two-year, $10MM guarantee in November 2017. He was coming off a career campaign with the Halos at that point, as he led all relievers in innings and notched a 2.76 ERA/2.85 FIP with 9.95 K/9 and 1.77 BB/9 across 91 1/3 frames.
Petit has continued his ways as an effective workhorse during his run in Oakland, where he has amassed another 176 innings of low-ERA ball (2.86). He’s now fresh off an 83-frame season in which he led the league in appearances (80) and logged a career-best 2.71 ERA with his highest swinging-strike rate (11.4 percent) since 2014.
The soft-throwing Petit benefited in 2019 from a .213 batting average on balls in play against and thrived despite a 29.9 percent groundball rate. As a result, there’s a certain amount of skepticism in regards to his stingy run prevention, with ERA indicators FIP (3.59), xFIP (4.48) and SIERA (3.90) painting a gloomier picture. However, it’s worth noting Petit greatly aided his cause by doling out few free passes and limiting damaging contact. Petit walked a meager 1.08 hitters per nine, which helped him overcome a below-average strikeout rate (7.7 K/9). Plus, according to Statcast, Petit ranked in the majors’ 83rd percentile in average exit velocity against (86.6 mph) and its 91st percentile in expected weighted on-base average (.264, compared to the actual .243 wOBA hitters mustered off him).
Although the A’s are regularly one of the majors’ lowest-payroll teams, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them retain Petit for what looks like a reasonable salary. They’ll officially decide what to do with him, not to mention fellow established veteran relievers Jake Diekman (mutual option) and Blake Treinen (non-tender or trade possibility), in the approaching weeks.
]]>Anderson, who first joined the A’s in a significant 2007 trade with the Diamondbacks, made his debut in ’09 and quickly established himself as one of the majors’ premier young starters. Unfortunately, injuries were consistently an issue for Anderson in Oakland, which ended up dealing him to Colorado prior to 2014. Anderson has pitched in the bigs for a few other teams since then (the Dodgers, Blue Jays and Cubs), with injuries remaining an all-too-frequent occurrence.
To Anderson’s credit, after an adverse 2017 divided between Chicago and Toronto, he has reestablished himself as a legitimate MLB starter over the past two years. He reunited with the Athletics on a minor league deal going into 2018, and while it went down as another injury-shortened season for Anderson, he proved to be a quality low-risk pickup for the club. Anderson wound up notching 80 1/3 innings of 4.48 ERA/4.17 FIP ball with 5.27 K/9, 1.46 BB/9 and a typically high groundball rate (55.6 percent) to help the A’s ride a patchwork rotation to a playoff spot.
Anderson’s bounce-back performance last year earned him a big league deal last offseason, when he stuck with Oakland for a guaranteed $1.5MM. Again, signing Anderson for a relative pittance worked out beautifully for the A’s. The 31-year-old Anderson put together one of his healthiest seasons ever in 2019, totaling 176 innings and logging a 3.89 ERA with 2.51 walks per nine and a 54.5 percent grounder mark. At the same time, though, Anderson struck out a paltry 4.6 hitters per nine – by far the fewest among qualified starters – while his 4.57 FIP, 4.79 xFIP and 5.17 SIERA all lagged miles behind his ERA. The soft-tossing Anderson wasn’t a Statcast favorite this year, either, ranking near the bottom of the league in the majority of its notable categories.
Skepticism seems warranted in regards to Anderson’s output this season, but it’s quite possible his grounder-heavy ways would continue to yield good results in Oakland. After all, the A’s boast three outstanding defensive infielders in third baseman Matt Chapman, shortstop Marcus Semien and first baseman Matt Olson. Still, the A’s might not welcome back Anderson, who figures to land a raise on a second straight guaranteed pact. Barring offseason changes or injuries (which they’ve dealt with much too often of late), they could easily enter next spring with Frankie Montas, Sean Manaea, Jesus Luzardo, Mike Fiers, A.J. Puk and Chris Bassitt as either locks or strong contenders for rotation spots.
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